Page 120 - Beers With Our Founding Fathers

Beers with our Founding Fathers

The whole of the Second Amendment, one of the shortest and

most concise in the Bill of Rights, states in its entirety, “A well
regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the

right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
First, a free State is specific to the several states, the state of an

individual’s citizenship. The original draft was written as ‘free state’
and implied the protection from what is modernly referred to as a

police state, and threat or activities of tyranny and oppression. I
submit that both were intended and implied, and it was recognized

that the states had the greater autonomy and sovereignty over the
federal government. Historically throughout the world, only the

upper and ruling classes of society were permitted to own
weaponry, or arms, for any reason. This prevented the lower classes

from protecting themselves from, or revolting against, their
authoritative upper and ruling classes. This right is not meant to

protect hunting or sporting, but defense of the collective by the
individual, and by extension, of themselves. This right protects its

preceding First Amendment collective rights. It protects the
individual from the government. In colonial America, law

enforcement was the county sheriff. The sheriff was responsible for
enforcing the laws, collecting taxes, supervising elections, and taking

care of the legal business of the county government. Specific to
protecting the individual, the sheriff was reactive to a citizen’s

complaint or information about a crime. Only at that time would an

investigation or arrest be made. They did not patrol or prevent
crime. This was affirmed by the 2005 Supreme Court decision that

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